Page 305 - SELECTED WORKS OF CHEN YUN Volume II.indd

SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS 303
policy, some workers in enterprises should be promoted to positions of
leadership. But since most enterprises have not yet been reorganized, this has
not yet been done. The work in factories and shops will suffer if no workers
are offered responsible positions.
It is the government’s policy for capitalists to remain as managers in
their enterprises. Workers, however, may be dissatisfied and complain that
capitalists were factory directors and managers before the conversion to joint
state-private ownership and they still are, that they hold the same position
under socialism as under capitalism. You must be prepared for such remarks
and not be angered by them. For a long time workers and capitalists were
opponents, and it is hard to overcome their antagonism overnight. It is like
two people who have had a fight; you can’t expect them to sit talking and
laughing together. The government should make it clear to the workers that
the capitalists are willing to convert their enterprises into joint state-private
enterprises and that if they are rejected, they will have no way of earning a
living, which would not be right. Capitalists today are different from what
they were. They used to work for their own profit, but now they are working
for the state. Some of them have technical skills and professional experience
greatly needed by the country. Workers are reasonable people and will come
to realize that they have to unite with the capitalists. Likewise, the industri-
alists and businessmen will have to change their attitude toward workers and
toward their own work.
Many capitalists and their representatives are still worried about whether
they will be appointed as managers, and if so, whether their positions will
be secure for any length of time. Some think that the Communist Party will
let them first taste sweetness, then bitterness — that even though they retain
their positions today, they may be rejected tomorrow. Industrialists and
merchants throughout the country are concerned about these three questions:
whether they will be given jobs, whether those jobs will be secure, and
whether they will be at a high level.
The government’s view is that the overwhelming majority of industrial-
ists and merchants have skills and experience that will benefit the people, the
country and socialist construction. Only a few are not well qualified. Our
country needs people with technical skills and business experience. The state
treats capitalists and landlords differently. Landlords can only stand in the
way of production, while capitalists, with their skills, are able to manage
factories and organize production. The government provides positions for
capitalists not because it particularly favours them but because doing so is to
the advantage of the country and the people. They need not worry about
their jobs. Only, they will have to be remoulded into people who work for